Thursday, March 27, 2008
5:53 PM

In what could be considered the next evolution of scrapbooking, photo books are quickly becoming one of the most popular ways to creatively glorify your pictures.

One of our main goals in developing Picasa and Picasa Web Albums has always been to provide an open platform for you to do whatever you want with your photos. That's why with Picasa Web Albums as a launch pad, you can easily create stunning photo books using services such asShutterfly, Photo Works, Kodak, Tabblo and Allbeli. These sites, among many others, can help you can turn your favorite photos into a professional looking, customized photo book -- sure to please any gift recipient.

For some, the art of photo book-making can even become a more serious endeavor, as the folks over at Blurb can attest. They have just announced Photography.Book.Now, a competition that celebrates creative self-published photography books. Those of you who have a creative book to share can submit it by July 14, 2008. This contest also includes ahalf-day symposium exploring the modern photography book movement. If you're interested, Blurb is reserving 50 spots especially for Picasa users at one of the Photography.Book.Now symposia. Just email your name and email address to info@photographybooknow.com, including Picasa Symposium Reservation in the subject line to reserve your spot.

Photo books are great for storing your family vacation photos, maintaining a portfolio of your artwork, creating a recipe book... the possibilities are endless.